Backwards
by TheFallOfGallifrey
Summary: Pepper Potts knew the moment that Natasha introduced her to Special Agent Clinton "Clint" Barton that he and Tony would make quick friends. Any man that introduced himself with "Clint Barton, I shoot things," with a wink and a cocky smile would get along famously with the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.
1. Chapter 1

Pepper Potts knew the moment that Natasha introduced her to Special Agent Clinton "Clint" Barton that he and Tony would make quick friends. Any man that introduced himself with "Clint Barton, I shoot things," with a wink and a cocky smile would get along famously with the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. Or at least Pepper hoped they would, Tony could use a friend like Clint. So when Phil Coulson showed up at the nearly completed Stark Tower with a mission for not only Tony and the Iron Man but the Avengers her heart stopped when she saw Clint and Natasha's images playing on the screen; not only her boyfriend but two of her other friends were also going to be closely involved with the dangers lurking on the horizon.

After the battle when she went to visit Tony in the SHEILD Medical Unit he wasn't in his room, but in Clint's chuckling at the archers joke as she knocked lightly on the open door. Tony turned around and smiled, "Hey Pepper, I'd like you to meet my friend Hawkeye or Clint, do you prefer Clint? Frankly I think Legolas fits you the best but you know it's your title."

Pepper laughed and waved at Clint who winked back, "Yes, Clint and I have already been introduced," She admitted walking up to the foot of his bed, "I'm glad to see that the both of you made it out alive."

"Thanks Pepper." Clint smiled.

"Whoa wait, back up a moment. How exactly do the two of you know each other? Have you been sneaking around behind my back with this guy Pepper? Not that I would blame you he is gorgeous." Tony rambled and Pepper could have sworn that she saw Clint try to hide a blush.

"Of course not, Our Russian friend introduced us a while back." Pepper explained.

Tony nodded and reached out for her hand, pulling her closer, "It's good that the two of you get along then because I've had a brilliant idea for redecorating the tower."

"Oh really, what would that be Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked leaning against his wheelchair.

"I was thinking that instead of it being Stark Tower that it might just need a new, less pretentious name. You know something like Avengers Tower." Tony gleamed.

Clint laughed, "Yeah, totally not pretentious at all."

"I don't like you sarcasm Agent Barton." Tony sassed back.

Pepper rolled her eyes, "I think it's a great idea, 6 completely average superheroes living together in the middle of New York. What could possibly go wrong?"


	2. Chapter 2

Four months later all of the repairs and modifications to newly renamed Avengers Tower were complete and the team moved into their brand new, state of the art headquarters. Being almost constantly in the company of at least one superhero at a time definitely took some getting used to but it also came with perks. She was definitely never bored and neither was Tony, especially since not even two days after they moved into the tower the pranks started. It began with Tony replacing all of Clint's snacks with gummy worms and labeling them 'Hawk Food' and placing a "Don't feed the Hawk, He bites." Sign on Clint door. Then all of the sudden Jarvis began speaking in a heavy western accent.

This went on for almost a week until Tony ended up having to get a haircut because someone replaced his hair gel with glue after Clint mysteriously woke up blonde and then Pepper put a quick stop to the pranks, "I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this for you two before you end up burning down the tower again." She scolded the pair one day over lunch.

Clint shrugged and held out a hand, "Truce, for your girlfriend's sake?"

Tony nodded and shook Clint's hand, "For Pepper." He said as Clint got up and headed for the door, "Don't forget your left overs!" Tony yelled throwing a bag at Clint.

Clint turned and caught the bag, taking out a gummy worm and tossing it in his mouth, "Caw caw mother fucker." He winked and strutted out of the room leaving Pepper to deal with Tony who was having a laughing fit.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked handing him a glass of water after two whole minutes of straight laughter.

Tony took a drink and sighed, "Yep, totally and completely fine." He promised pulling out his Stark Pad, "I've got to go though; I'm needed in the lab for bit."

"What for?" Pepper asked curiously.

"Oh, Bruce needs my help with finding the right acid for the new arrows I designed." Tony shrugged finishing off his glass of water.

Pepper smiled, "Arrows huh. Have fun and call me later." She requested heading back to work.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next few months Pepper saw Tony less and less. He was always busy in the lab with Bruce, in his workshop with Clint, or on a mission and she was busy running Stark Industries. On the rare occasion that they both had a gap in their schedules they would get lunch together but overall the time they spent together diminished. In early February Pepper managed to get her first weekend off in almost 2 months. Since Tony was away in Germany for some convention she accepted Natasha's invitation of a girls night in the tower.

It was no surprise to Pepper to pass by Clint in the hallway wearing only his boxers; this was in fact his floor as well as Natasha's. Plus, it's not like she was going to complain about it. She smiled as she passed by before slipping into Tasha's room. Nat was sitting on the couch with a tub of ice cream, nail polish, and a nice selection of movies resting on the coffee table in front of her.

"Hey Pepper," Natasha greeted her without even turning around, "What do you think, Eat Pray Love or Mean Girls?"

"Mean Girls, definitely." Pepper answered kicking off her flip flops and falling onto the couch next Tasha. Pepper grabbed the ice cream while Natasha put in the movie and propped her bare feet up on the coffee table. The pair ate half of the ice cream while the movie played; not saying much until the credits began and Nat began painting her finger nails a crimson red. "So, how's Tony doing?" The assassin asked without looking up from the task at hand.

Pepper sighed and leaned her head back, "Fine, I suppose. I don't get to see him much anymore. So much has changed; I mean he's not just Iron Man anymore, he's an Avenger. He has more responsibility than ever and I have taken over the company so I never get time off either." She said without stopping for a breath.

Natasha nodded her head, "I can only imagine. I'm just glad you two finally cut to the chase. It took long enough." She chuckled.

Pepper laughed, "Yeah it did, and since we're on the subject, what about you and Clint?"

Natasha looked up from her hand, "Why does everyone think that I'm sleeping with Clint or secretly in love with him!" She yelled.

"So, you aren't secretly in love with him? I just assumed…" Pepper trailed off.

Tasha laughed, "Nope, not even a little bit. Clint's my best friend and I would do anything for him and vice versa but that's as far as our relationship goes."

Pepper nodded, taking in the information, "When was the last time Clint was in a relationship?" She asked curiously.

Natasha hummed for a moment, "About 9 months before the Loki incident I believe, he had a thing with an Agent named Ryan for a while."

"A guy?" Pepper raised an eyebrow.

Natasha nodded, "Mmhmm, I guess this isn't exactly common knowledge but Clint tends to wander on both sides of the fence. He was raised in a circus so I suppose that things like that weren't really the strangest." She shrugged blowing on her nails.

Pepper pondered that for a moment before checking the time, it was past midnight. "It's getting late, I'm gonna hit the hay. Thanks for this." She smiled at her best friend.

"It was my pleasure." Natasha smiled.

Pepper excused herself and headed for the elevator, passing Clint yet again in the hallway, this time he was fully dressed but his short looked familiar, "Hey Clint, where did you get that shirt?" She asked.

Clint looked down and pulled the shirt over his head, "Oh yeah, Tony let me borrow it the other day when I got grease on mine in the workshop and I haven't gotten around to retuning it. Throw it in his hamper would you?" He asked tossing her the shirt.

Pepper smiled, "Of course." She caught the shirt and headed for the elevator, pressing the button for Tony's pent house room. She put his shirt in the dirty laundry and changed into a pair of pajama's before lying down and falling asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

From that point on Pepper began to notice exactly how much Tony and Clint hung out with each other. Almost every time she spoke to Tony he mentioned Clint and every time she talked to Clint he mentioned Tony. To be completely honest, Tony spent more time with Clint than he spent with her by far. She sort of blew it off for the most part; she figured that they were working on a project together or something. Then one day Pepper wandered into the kitchen on her way to the airport to find Tony and Clint sitting at the table together, she stopped at the door and listened to them laughing together. She looked at Clint who never took his blue eyes off of Tony. As he smiled the stress lines in his faces disappeared and his expression lightened. He glanced up for a moment and saw her and his smile faltered, "Morning Pepper." He said managing to regain his composer.

Pepper glanced down at her feet and back up, "Hello boys."

Clint stood up, "I'm gonna go take a shower, I'll um, I'll talk to you guys later." He excused himself touching Tony's shoulder as he passed by and looked at Pepper. He looked sorry and worn; like he was fighting a battle he knew he was going to lose. That's when she realized it; Clint was fighting a battle with himself. He wasn't secretly in love with Natasha but Tony instead. She quickly pushed the thought to the back of her head, Clint was a good man and even if he did have a crush on Tony she trusted that he would never do anything to hurt his relationship with herself.

About two weeks later Pepper had a question to ask Tony about the donation of a car to a cancer research group. Jarvis had ever so politely informed her that Mr. Stark was currently in the workshop with Agent Barton, which she had already guessed. She glanced out of a window on her way to the elevator, the sky was already dark and it was later than she had expected to be. She flipped through the file on the way down to the workshop, closing the manila folder at the door and stopping.

The lights were dimmed and the room had a slight blue glow. Pepper looked around until she spotted the pair. Tony and Clint were on the couch, Clint's head was resting on Tony's shoulder and Tony's arm was around Clint's shoulders. Pepper knew that she should have been mad or jealous but when she saw how peaceful Tony looked while he slept with his arm around Clint she couldn't bring herself to be anything of those things. Maybe she felt relieved, relieved that Tony had found someone that he could actually love because Pepper knew that what her and Tony had wasn't that type of love. It was the type of love shared by a pair of people that depended on each other and trusted each other above all else but it wasn't love. Pepper sighed; Tony and her were just like Clint and Natasha. She placed the file on Tony's desk and shut off the lights on her way out.

A few nights later Pepper passed into the living room to find Tony standing on the other side of the room from her. "Hey Tony," She said stopping next to the couch.

Tony turned around and smiled, "Hey Pepper." He stepped towards her.

"I think we need to talk." She sighed looking into Tony's brown eyes. He frowned but nodded his head, "Look, you know I love you right?" She asked.

"Of course!" The genius grabbing her hand and squeezing gently.

Then the door opened and Clint came into view, "Oh, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting." He apologized stopping in his tracks and heading back out the door politely.

Pepper watched Tony frown again, "Tony," She whispered and he looked back at her, "Go after him."

Tony shook his head, "Pepper, no."

Pepper smiled and pulled Tony into a hug, holding him tight. "Think about all the time we wasted playing games Tony," She whispered into his ear, "Don't make that mistake again."

Tony held her tighter for a moment, "Are you sure?"

Pepper stepped back and nodded, "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

Tony laughed, "Yes, that's all Mrs. Potts, and thank you." Then Tony turned on his heels and through the door Clint has disappeared out of, "Hey Birdbrains wait up!"


	5. Epiolouge

That couple of Mondays later Pepper was surprised to see a vase of Roses sitting on her nightstand when she returned to the tower after work. She took her shoes off at the door and walked across the room, checking out the flowers. She picked a small note out from the deep purple pedals; it was a thank you note.

"I'm pretty sure the money cap on gifts is $35, what you've given me is priceless.

–Clint"

Pepper smiled tucking the note back into the flowers. She was on her way down to thank Agent Barton for the wonderful collection of roses when she turned the corner and caught a glimpse of Tony pushing Clint up against the wall, pinning his hands above his head and stealing a kiss before taking off down the hallway.

Clint looked both ways; no doubt checking for a faster route than Tony's when he saw her leaning again the corner. He smiled at her and she nodded at him before he went sprinting down the hall after the Iron Man and nothing else needed to be said.


End file.
